Both Blackburn manager Sam Allardyce and Houllier have suffered heart problems so a repeat is perhaps not recommended, but Houllier said he is fit and ready for the challenge.

Houllier has given up a desk job with the French FA to return to the football trenches three years after he managed Lyon and six years after he was last in English football with Liverpool.

A League Cup win with Liverpool in 2001 kick-started his success there and the trophy could have a big part to play at the launch of Houllier’s Villa career.

“Aston Villa is a club which is liked in Europe,” said Houllier. “It has an identity. Aston Villa is known as Paris St Germain is known, known to be a good club. What Villa need is more ambition, more biting teeth.

“When you are a good club everything is fine, the comfort is there. What we need to do is get out of this comfort zone a bit more and get the results. The squad is such that we don’t need to buy a lot. Maybe in the future, but we have a good base.

“If we have that base and we really get the teeth to bite into things, that would be good. The image is that it’s a nice club. We want to be a winning club, a nice, winning club.”

Villa’s last trophy was the 1996 Coca Cola Cup (League Cup) win over Leeds and what Houllier is saying echoes why O’Neill took the job at Villa and then left frustrated before this season started because the multi-millions needed to continue the revolution were not there any more.

Houllier takes over at a difficult time with the team rudderless because of O’Neill’s shock resignation followed by the caretaker managership of reserve coach Kevin MacDonald.

Villa need a target, they need a focus and they need a leader. “When we won the League Cup at Liverpool, it took a lot of pressure off the team,” said Houllier. “It came as a relief, we won something.

“If you remember, Chelsea’s first league title came after winning the League Cup.

“I remember speaking to Jose Mourinho and saying, ‘Don’t neglect that cup because, if you win it, the confidence will grow’. That is exactly what happened to us – we went on to practically win everything.”

Houllier is tonight without Richard Dunne and Stephen Ireland, both injured, and will give exciting young winger Marc Albrighton a rest.

Despite the importance he gives to the tie, Houllier will also mix-and-match his team, half of it being made up of regular first-team men and the other half squad players being given a chance to impress their new manager. This is a big night for Houllier because, if Villa were to go out of the Carling Cup, it would put a quick question mark over his appointment with only the FA Cup then realistically left to play for.

Houllier has two tough away Premier League games after this; Wolves in Sunday’s local derby and then Tottenham.

One of the jewels he has inherited, Ashley Young, can expect a change of role. Young has been playing off the main striker this season, but is likely to be back on the wing.

Houllier said: “Young plays for the national team as a winger, which means if he wants to keep his position and be extremely effective, maybe he has to play as a winger.”

About 30,000 are expected to be at Villa Park to see Houllier’s debut along with his assistant Gary McAllister.